Daily Mail Dubs Cocaine ‘Relatively Safe’

Usually rabidly anti-drug tabloid the Daily Mail published a surprisingly balanced review of new book ‘Coke- the Biograpphy this week, in which they described cocaine as ‘an appetite-suppressant and an anaesthetic (which) also floods the user with intense 30-minute bursts of high-energy euphoria’.

“It is, in relative terms, safe,” the Mail also advised, “In Britain in 2011 there were only 112 cocaine-related deaths, whereas 207 people died as a result of taking paracetamol.” (Mail: http://dailym.ai/19Yntpk )

The article appeared as respected addiction website The Fix published a feature ‘Exaggerating the Risk of Drugs Harms Us All’ which also noted how drug laws were often crafted ‘to send political messages unrelated to concerns over crime or health issues caused by drug use.

“Two recent, widely praised books—Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow and David Musto’s The American Disease, make a powerful case that American drug policy originated in racism,” Fix writer Maia Szalavitz reported.

“Cocaine, for instance, was banned first by state laws due to fears that it literally made black men impervious to bullets and caused them to rape white women.” (The Fix; http://bit.ly/121fJ4a )